


in that way he was a hero

by interstellarbeams



Category: Timeless (TV 2016)
Genre: 2x10 Snapshot, 2x10 spoilers, Alternate Universe - Historical, Angst and Tragedy, Chinatown, F/M, Gen, Jiya POV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-15
Updated: 2018-05-15
Packaged: 2019-05-07 06:32:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14665314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/interstellarbeams/pseuds/interstellarbeams
Summary: Jiya spends time with little Fei while back in 1888.





	in that way he was a hero

**Author's Note:**

> This was written quickly and unbeta’d. I don’t know where I was going with this but I wanted to write Jiya and Fei together.

She has the tiniest feet that Jiya has ever seen. She heard the horrific story of how they are wrapped every night, tighter and tighter, before she lays down to sleep next to her mother and father in the back of their photography shop. Jiya tried to hide her reaction to this ancestral ritual but little Fei is a smart one and asks her what’s wrong. She plays it off, like she’s used to hearing this type of story all the time, and asks her what her favorite pastime is.

The little girl gives gives her a quizzical look, apparently “pastime” is not a word yet so she tells her how she used to love to draw back before computers and coding had caught her fancy, of course she didn’t tell her about modern technology. Despite her quick wit, it would more than likely go right over her head.

Reading is her favorite, she finally admits, in her soft, high voice. Fingers twisted around each other shyly. Girls in China are expected to be almost invisible so talking and to a strange woman, no less, must have been a lot for her but they become close, little by little.

After that, Jiya visits her every Thursday afternoon, crossing the dusty street carefully in her purple satin dress. Her eyes are still drawn to the hustle and bustle of Chinatown at midday, even after all these years. Whole chicken carcasses hang in windows and bowler hats are sold on the street corners by Chinamen in peacock colored silk robes. The constant mixture of languages, brawling drunks and barking dogs is enough to give anyone a headache but you get used to it, _eventually_.

Everyone in 2018 will tell you that the modern world is never quiet but everyone in 2018 has never been to 1888 and an overcrowded Chinatown.

Fei loves books, especially books about children, _The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_ is one of her favorites. Jiya never actually read it. In school she liked the library but the computer lab was where she spent most of her time, so they went on the adventure together. Jiya did her best to imitate the character’s voices while cross legged on a fraying rug in the shop with an adoring little girl hanging on her every word.

Jiya wasn’t able to get many books on her crappy saloon girl’s salary, but Fei still longed for more stories so Jiya started telling tales about the team — Lucy, Rufus and Wyatt, sometimes even Flynn — and somehow that made it easier. Being stuck in the 1880s really sucked but at least she had a friend, albeit a small one and the girl’s at the saloon weren’t too bad. They shared a room that funnily enough, reminded her of the crowded bunker, it felt a lot like home. The bedbugs sucked but at least she had a roof over her head.

Every night, when the sounds of the saloon _finally_ quieted down and her thoughts are all she has — that’s when she thinks of her mother and sisters, Rufus and the team that had slowly started becoming her other family. Tears had long since ceased to exist but a sharp twinge would make itself known every once in awhile when something would pull at her, reminding her that this wasn’t actually her time. That she was born more than a hundred years from now and that the man she loves is probably worrying himself sick over her.

She left them a message in Klingon, no less, coordinates on where they can find the Lifeboat but she warns them not to come, warns _him_ , that he’s still on his way to his death but he doesn’t listen.

That Thursday she sees Fei walk into the saloon, a large beloved figure trailing behind and then she’s being swallowed up by him, his familiar rambling crowding her in like his embrace and she knows she’s finally home.

The world comes crashing down around her less than an hour later. His blood is everywhere, her hands, her chest, her hair and she wants it gone as soon as possible but then there will no longer be any sign of him. They had to leave his body behind and that’s maybe the hardest thing she’s ever had to do. He’s gone, he’s just _gone_ and she doesn’t know what to do next. How does she function after losing him? Her life will never, ever be the same. 

It’s only that night, lying there in her bed in the room they used to share that she remembers little Fei who loved to hear the stories of Rufus and his friends saving the world and maybe he did because she wouldn’t exist without his sacrifice. In that way he was a _hero_.


End file.
